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Published: June 29th 2014
Oh gosh, GMan has discovered my tablet! He has put a program on my laptop which turns it into a hotspot (password protected of course) and he is away. Currently he is researching satellite dishes so that we can get the news and footy without coming into a town. I can hear the cash register clanging. Oh dear, the system he can get on special for half price as the end of financial year sale item needs a 12 volt adapter and they seem to be out of them currently.
We now know a lot more about Sandstone. It is a small town with only 19 permanent residents. At the present time there are 34 caravans in the CP which means that there are probably an additional 60 people visiting at the moment. Many of these tourists come up every year to fossick for gold, which explains all the information at the hotel. Even the Sandstone website has prospecting tips. The CP is run by the Shire and funded from the Royalty for the Regions program which has now apparently ceased.
The Tourist Bureau person also doubles as the attendant at the fuel station across the road which explains
why we had issues before, apparently it was going to close down so the Shire took it over and offers the service to the community. Wish they would put up a sign to let us know when they were dispensing fuel. Despite having few residents this is the main town for the Shire of Sandstone and the community spirit is very high. The post office is open for two hours per day Monday to Friday and also doubles as a place to get coffee, art gallery for the young man who lives there. He is Chinese and also grows his own vegetables and he sets up a market every Saturday morning to sell fresh locally grown veges. The general store closed down so the hotel opened a general store on their premises where you can get a range of groceries, bread, milk some vegetables and buy booze at extreme prices. I admire their spirit.
UPDATE - Apparently the shipping for the satellite dish is $100, but that does not exclude his purchasing it. He is going to ring tomorrow and check out about the 12 volt adapter then make a decision, unless he finds another one to purchase.
We did the tourism run yesterday. First stop the cemetery of course. The information board outside which lists all the names of people buried here and precisely where their graves are is so weathered it is unreadable - such a pity. Once again there are not many headstones as is usual in the outback areas. the most recent burial was in 1989. We were amazed to see that one headstone from 1939 is still being taken care of. The second photograph shows a mocconna coffee jar which has been filled with artificial flowers and placed on the grave. The flowers have only faded a little so are fairly current. As we wandered about we kept noticing large holes in the ground and were trying to work out whether someone had been prospecting in the graveyard or if they were rabbit holes. There were tracks which looked like kangaroo tails had passed through but no roo footprints. A mystery, definitely not S things, Chris knows what there marks are like. The mystery was solved when we spoke to the publicans wife, bung-arrow goannas apparently. The shire is looking to install vermin type fencing to keep them out. She also told us
that the new board for the cemetery has been completed and needs to be installed, this time with a shade to stop the sun damage.
There is a tourism loop so we went off to see Contradiction well. This was the first water source for the township and is about 4 kms south. These days it is mainly used to water livestock when required.
Next to the former state battery where ore was processed up until 1982. There is no operating mine in the area at the present time. The buildings are falling down, but the actual stamp battery is still standing proud. It took us ages to work out what the slate walled mound was and eventually it clicked, that was where the actual gold was melted into bars.
There are very few substantial old buildings in the town but those that are here are in excellent condition. They are built from locally made bricks. There are three the post office, the hotel and what was the mining wardens office which became the school and is now closed. Buildings like the Shire offices are fibro from the 60's. The other older buildings are corrugated iron and
many of them look in fine condition. The street plantings are beautiful and the whole place is clean, neat and tidy with good wide roads.
The Black Range Chapel is a lovely tin little building which has been restored by the Shire. It stated it's life as a Catholic Church and there was also a Catholic school. the school moved to Wiluna and today the chapel is a non-denominational church available for weddings, funerals and services from visiting religious ministers. The entire interior is lined with pressed tin and we were able to identify every pattern as having been in our Collins Street Kalgoorlie or Brinkworth houses. The Shire replaced all the broken leadlight windows when they restored the chapel. The main window is magnificent. It is a combination of leadlighting and glass painting and reflects the nature of the region. I have included a close picture of each panel at the end of my photos. There are even the original 'Stations of the Cross' are still in place. Graham complained that the seats looked very uncomfortable but as I pointed out, it began life as a Catholic church and was probably part of the penance for mortal sins.
The congregation was sitting on the fence outside waiting for services.
There is a small park which explains both the mining and the sheep/cattle industry from the region. Included in the exhibits is one of the best examples of a water boiler we have seen, a really great wool press and a mystery device which we could not work out its purpose. Photo 14 - Any Guesses please.
Wayne there is even a golf club running winter competitions are the present time - do you need a holiday?
We discovered the vegetable market run by William the Chinese man and purchased lettuce, spring onions, beautiful baby red potatoes, a bottle of home made plum sauce and a bag of small round nibblies which are made from the giant Chinese radishes and deep fried and eaten dipped in the plum sauce. There was another stall where we purchased two of Lady Di's pies for $5.50, that was lunch.
Once back at the CP we headed off to the TV room to watch the Freo/Eagles Derby. There was one other fellow there, Trevor, and he was also a Freo Dockers supporter. He flys a Dockers flag on
his bus. We yelled at the umpires and whinged about the bad decisions in unison. Very enjoyable. One Eagles fan turned up to see the score and was told he had to stand outside and listen, but he could have a mirror on a stick if he wanted to see as well. He took it in good humour.
From Trevor we discovered that the majority of the people in the park are here for weeks/months off prospecting. They do find some gold but very few of them sell it. The day before someone managed to find 58 grams just less than two ozs. At the value posted in the pub of $1400 per oz that was about $2,700 worth. We must admit the park clears out very early each day as they head out to play. Very peaceful it is.
Tomorrow we will head off towards Mt Magnet just to pass through as we will do the tourist thing on our way back up the main highway after we have been to Yalgoo and Paynes find.
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Ace blogs once again.
Loved all of them. Really look forward to them, so informative & well written. Your camera is working overtime AND doing a great job. The window of the church is spectacular, in fact the whole interior & exterior is very photogenic. All the scenery photos of the areas are so clear & colourful.